This restaurant has replaced chefs with robots
The debate about whether cooking is more art or science is a never-ending one.
But at Spyce, the latest culinary experiment in automation, that debate feels pretty well settled.
Started by a group of 20-something robotics engineers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology who partnered with Michelinstarred chef Daniel Boulud, of Palm Beach’s Cafe Boulud, the new restaurant in downtown Boston is founded on the idea that a fulfilling meal can be more sci-
ence than spontaneity. have The replaced restaurant’s human founders
chefs with seven automated cook- ing pots that simultaneously whip up meals in three minutes or less. A brief description of meal preparation — courtesy of 26-year-old co- founder Mich aelFarid—can sound more like laboratory instructions than conventional cooking.
order, “Once we you have place an ingredi- your ent delivery system that collects them from the fridge,” Farids aid. “The ingredients are portioned into the correct sizes and then delivered toarob otic wok, where they aret umbled at 450 degrees Fahrenheit. The ingredients are cooked and seared. And once the process is complete, the woks tilt downward and
p ut food into a bowl. And then they’re ready to be garnished and served.”
Spyce bills itself as “the world’s turing a first robotic restaurant kitchen that feacooks complex meals,” a distinction that appears to reference burger-flipping robots like “Flippy,” who plied his trade in a Califor- nia fast-food kitchen before being temporary suspended — because he wasn’t work- ing fast enough.
A prototype of Spyce’s robotic chef was first assem
bled in the basement of the co-founders’ fraternity house at MIT.
The restaurant’s dining experience actually begins a few steps before the robots get involved, using colorful when custom- touch
ers screens create customized, compostable bowls that cost $7.50. Heavy on vegetables and health yg rains, the bowls include a calorie count and have themes such as Latin, Thai, Mediterranean and Hearth. on above the While customer’s an electronic their meals name wok, are cooked, display appears showing ished, their hot order. water Once jets rinse finthe inside of woks before another collection of ingredients is dumped inside. Farid said they decided to place the robotic chefs out in the open to remove any lingering mystery. “We didn’t want to create a black box that produces a meal,” Farid said. “We wanted this experience to be exciting.” The restaurant’s motto: “Culinary excellence ele- vated by technology.” restaurant ning experts That to motto adopt say. industry is Restaurants as one a is that whole, begin- the across incorporate the country automated already technology, such as “self-service ordering” and “robotic servers,” according to a report last year by the McKinsey Global Institute. jobs The report involve concluded “predict- that
that able physical activities” — such as cooking or serving food, cleaning kitchens, collecting dirty dishes and preparing beverages — are the most susceptible to auto- mation. “According to our analy- sis, 73 percent of the activi- ties workers perform in food service and accommodations have the potential for automation, based on technical considerations,” the report said. Because the industry’s human labor tends to be lower-paid, robots cooks have yet to be adopted, the report said. As the technology becomes cheaper and more widespread, however, that could change. restaurant’s people, Spyce employs a detail founders that multiple the are quick to emphasize when they explain their concept. There’s a friendly “guide” to assist customers with order- ing and to ask about your day, according to Farid. Humans prep the food overnight and the restaurant also employs a “garde manger” (French for “keeper of the food”) whose job is to add touches like pumpkin seeds, cilantro and c rumbled goat cheese before meals are served. Faridsaid the robots add efficiency and lower operating costs, but he declined to say by how much. He said he sees the robots enhancing the dining experience, not replacing it, but declined to speculate on whether Spyce is opening the floodgates of a job-killing robot revolution. efficient “Our restaurant because is people really focus on what people are good at, but the robot handles the high-volume tasks — like the cooking and washing — that robot s are good at,” he said. “At the end of the day, our product is not at echnology pro duct—it’s an experienc e and a delicious meal.”